Skinner: California law could shut down the market for stolen retail goods

We’ve all seen viral videos of smash-and-grab robberies. But have you ever considered that you might have inadvertently purchased an item that was stolen during one of those robberies?

Nowadays, stolen goods are commonly offered up for sale on internet marketplaces such as Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist. And we, the purchaser, often have no way of knowing if the items being sold were stolen. 

The problem is, some online marketplaces don’t verify whether sellers on their sites are legitimate, leaving us in the circumstance where we might unwittingly purchase a stolen good.

And if the item we bought was stolen, there’s a good chance it was stolen by someone working for an organized retail theft ring that directed the person to steal specific items.

Law enforcement and retailers say that’s increasingly how organized retail theft works: The ringleaders of large-scale operations hire and pay “workers” to rob brick-and-mortars stores, and then the ringleaders make millions selling the ill-gotten goods online.

That’s why the Legislature needs to pass SB 1144, commonsense legislation that will curb organized retail theft and ensure that consumers aren’t inadvertently buying items from a smash and grab. Under SB 1144, online marketplaces must ensure that organized theft rings are not using their platforms to fence stolen goods.

To read the full op-ed, click here.